Case packer



July 31, 1962 T. CARTER 3,046,712

CASE PACKER Filed Nov. 2, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 PUSHER Tia-l /5 LEFTDISCHARGE RAM- PUSHER E I 4 mam DISCHARGE RAM CASE 2/ M I? ,6 ELEVATORINVENTOR. TERRY L. CARTER BY 6 "ugh v AT;'ORNEY T. L. CARTER July 31,1962 CASE PACKER 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 2, 1960 INVENTOR. TERRY L.CAQTER [III]! I llllll llll...

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TERRY L. CARTER TD K BY surz.com.

ATTORNEY the other receiving hopper.

United States Patent ()fitice 3,046,712 Patented July 31, 1962 Theinvention herein disclosed relates to the loading or packing of cases orcartons with boxes or packages containing such items as tubes, bottles,cans and the like.

Special objects of 'the invention are to provide a machine for thepurpose which for what it accomplishes will be relatively simple inconstruction and operation and low in cost, which will be compact inform and occupy small space, be automatic and fast in its operation, bereadily adaptable to handle different kinds and sizes of objects andwhichwill be accurate and safe in its operation.

These and other desirable objects have been attained by a novelcombination and arrangement of parts and involving a novel sequence ofoperations in which articles to be packed are assembled in layers andstacked layer on layer into a complete load at a central assemblingstation and shifted in complete load form into one of two receivinghoppers and the load discharged from the one hopper into a case orcarton while the mechanism at the central station is assembling a freshload for delivery to In this manner assembly and packing is carried onsubstantially continuously without loss of time in shifting from one setof operations to another.

Other advantageous features and objects of the invention are set forthand will appear in the course of the following specification.

The drawings accompanying and forming part of this specificationillustrate a present commercial embodiment of the invention. Structureand arrangement however may be modified and changed as regards theimmediate illustration, all within the true intent and broad scope ofthe invention as hereinafter defined and claimed.

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating diagrammatically the supply ofarticles to the central assembly station and the shifting of completedloads alternately to left and right to the discharge stations.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic cross sectional view as on the line 2-2 of FIG.1 illustrating transfer of a completed row or layer of objects from theendless supply conveyor to the layer stacking table and discharge of thecompleted stacked load to case or carton located over the dischargethroat.

FIG. 3 is a front elevation and part sectional view of the machineembodying the aforesaid features.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the machine.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross sectional view of the machine onsubstantially the plane of the line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a wiring diagram.

In FIG. 1 the articles or objects to be packed, in this case boxes 7.which may have come from a packaging line are supplied to a beltconveyor 8 which carries them up against a front stop 9 having a readyswitch 10, in front of a pusher 11.

This pusher will not operate until the supply has accumulated upstreamto a point where the surplus switch 12 is located, whereupon the pusherhead 13 with cutoff until it returns to retracted position.

In its forward stroke the pusher projects theextracted row of objectsinto an open ended and open bottom hopper 15 over a table 16 whichserves as the bottom of the hopper, supporting the layer of boxesejected by the pusher.

The conveyor 8 may be a continuously running belt which will keeparticles piled up against the front stop, replacing those shifted fromthe belt to the receiving table 16.

As each layer is deposited on this table, or on top of a layerpreviously placed on the table, the table is stepped down, a layer at atime, as indicated in FIG. 2, until a stack oflayers constituting thefull caseload, in this instance three layers, is reached, whereupon theloaded hopper will be shifted laterally to a position in front of one oftwo discharge rams 17, 18 and one of the signal lights 35, 36 at suchdischarge stations will be energized to show which load is ready. Then,at the will of the operator, as by operation of a foot switch, thedischarge ram at the load-ready station will be energized causing head19 of the approximate size of the load, to push the load through a guidethroat 20 over which a case or carton 21 to be loaded is placed.

This discharge throat is shown as tapered to guide the load-and to serveas a support over which the open carton may be held by an operator whomay energize the discharge ram 17 by a foot switch 26.

FIG. 1 shows two loading hoppers 15 and 23 spaced apart a distance equalto the distance between the load assembler and the discharge rams atopposite sides of the same and these two hoppers are shifted to carryeach hopper alternately into register with the load assembler and withone of the discharge rams.

In FIG. 1 the left load receiver or hopper 15 is shown lined up with theassembler pusher 11 and the right hand hopper 23 is shown lined up withthe right hand load discharge ram 17.

In this relation, with the left hand empty hopper 15 in front of theassembler 11 and the loaded right hand hopper 23 in front of the righthand discharger 17, both discharger and the assembler may be inoperation, the

assembler making up a fresh load in the empty hopper while thedischarger is ramming the previously formed load into the case 21 heldover the guide throat 20.

As soon as the load is discharged from the right hand hopper and theleft hand hopper is loaded, which operations may be effected all atsubstantially the same time the two hoppers are shifted over to the leftto locate the loaded left hopper in line with the left hand discharger18 and the emptied right hand hopper 23 in line with the centrallylocated assembler.

A case 24 then is placed over the left hand discharge throat 25 and thefoot switch 26 operated to energize the left discharge ram.

While the load is being ejected. by the left hand ram 18 the assemblerwill be operating to load the emptied right hand hopper 23.

Thus no time is lost in transfer operations, the assembler is making uploads and loading the magazines, one after another,practicallycontinuously and at the same time the dischargers areoperating one after another to take away these loads and ram them intothe load containers.

FIG. 3 is a front view of tthe machine showing the load assemblingmechanism at the center and the discharge stations at opposite sides ofthe same and the load receiving hoppers shifted to the right with theleft one in line with the assembler and the right one in line with theright hand discharger.

This view also shows that there are two layer forming tables orelevators, 16 and 27, one for each of the hoppers, operated by powercylinders 28, 29 and all mounted on a laterally traveling carriage 30operating on guide rods 31, shifted by a power cylinder 32.

The table lowering cylinders 28, 29 have step switches 33 for effectinglowering of the tables one step as each layer is completed and bottomposition switches 34.

The carriage movement is timed by switches under control of the loaderand all controls are in interlocked relation so that the carriage willnot shift until the outside load has been removed and the center loadhas been completed.

The conveyor belt may be of rubber, leather, plastic or other smoothmaterial which will not mar or scratch the packages as it slides beneaththose held by the front stop.

The switches are interconnected so that the pusher at the loadingstation will not operate until an oversupply of boxes or packages isaccumulated, the elevator at the loading station will not lower until arow of packages is in place, the carriage will not shift until a caseload is 3 made up and the load ahead of it has been ejected or cased andthe machine will not continue in operation until the operator closes theswitch to put the load into the case, the machine being thus undercontrol of the operator at all times.

The central loader stops automatically when enough tiers have been setup to form a complete load. It will not attempt to overload a hopper.

An emergency push button located in convenient reach at 38, FIGS. 3 and4, operates a valve at 38', FIG. 5, to shut off air supply to themachine and bleed air from the cylinders leaving them free for movementmanually, as for releasing boxes that may have been caught or be inwrong position. Since the electric control system is not shut off,restoring the air supply with a second push button 39 will cause themachine to continue its cycle without having to start a new cycle.

FIG. 6 is a simplified form of wiring diagram showing how the controlsfor the various actuating mechanisms are interlinked and interlocked sothat the mechanisms described will operate in prearranged order toaccomplish the objects set forth. Essential parts referred to in theforegoing specification are so marked in the diagram so that the actionwill be clear without further detailed description.

In addition to the parts described the diagram includes a Relay Testsection by which different relays may be plugged in and testedindependently of the machine operating circuits to ascertain theiroperativeness, the three signal lights shown applying to the dilferenttypes of relays used in the machine.

What is claimed is:

l. A case packer comprising the combination of a pair of case loadholders for holding each a case load of objects to be packed, a loadassembler having means for assembling and placing a case load of theobjects in predetermined load formation into one of said case loadholders, a pair of load dischargers having means for discharging a caseload from a loaded case load holder, means for shifting one of said caseload holders from said assembler to one of said dischargers and the.other case load holder from the other discharger to said assembler andto then shift the first case load holder from said first mentioneddischarger back to the assembler and the sec- 0nd mentioned case loadholder from the assembler to the second discharger and means foractuating said load assembler to case load a holder when an empty holderis shifted to the same and to actuate one load discharger to discharge aholder when a loaded holder is shifted to the same and whereby saiddischargers may alternately discharge case loads one after another Whilesaid assembler is loading empty holders shifted to the same from saiddischargers.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which said load dischargers arespaced equal distances to opposite sides of said load assembler and saidload holders are spaced apart a distance equal to the distance betweensaid assembler and each discharger and said holders are shifted adistance in each direction equal to the spacing between said assemblerand said dischargers.

3. The invention according to claim 1 in which said holders are in theform of hoppers mounted in spaced relation on a reciprocating carriage.

4. The invention according to claim 1 in which said holders each have alayer receiving table and means for lowering the same step by step aseach layer of objects is deposited thereon.

5. The invention according to claim 1 in which the load assemblercomprises a traveling conveyor for the objects to be packed, a pusherfor stripping a predetermined number of objects 01f the conveyor, afront stop controller for objects on the conveyor, a controller at adistance in front of said front stop controller said controllers beingconnected with said pusher to effect actuation of the same when objectshave accumulated on the conveyor from said front stop back to theposition of said second mentioned controller.

6. The invention according to claim 1 in which said means for actuatingthe load assembler and load dischargers comprises a controller connectedto effect the actuation of said assembler and dischargers only after anempty load holder has been located at the assembler station and a loadedholder has been located at one of said discharger stations.

7. The invention according to claim 1 in which said means for actuatingthe load assembler and load'dischargers comprises a controller connectedto effect the actuation of said assembler and dischargers only after anempty load holder has been located at the assembler station and a loadedholder has been located at one of said discharger stations and includinga manually operable switch with the assembler and dischargers connectedto remain inoperative at the completion of a load assembly cycle untilsaid manually operable switch is actuated.

8. The invention according to claim 1 in which said load holderscomprise load receiving hoppers, object receiving tables forming thebottoms of said hoppers, means for lowering said tables step bystep aslayers of objects are deposited thereon and a reciprocating carriagemounting said hoppers and arranged for travel to alternately registersaid hoppers with the assembler and with one of said dischargers.

9. A case packer comprising means for receiving and accumulating itemsto be packed into orderly row relation at a loading station, a loadreceiving hopper, means for pushing a measured quantity of items from anaccumulated supply at said loading station into said lead re ceivinghopper, means for preventing the loading of a partial row of items intosaid load receiving hopper, load dischargers at opposite sides of saidloading station, a carriage located to alternately register said hopperwith said loading station and with one of said dischargers, means foraccumulating predetermined tiers of items within said hopper, means onsaid dischargers for discharging the predetermined accumulated loads sfitems from said load hopper into cases and means under control of anoperator for effecting sequential coordinated operation of the relatedmeans described and for deenergizing all machine functions.

10. A case packer comprising the combination of means for continuouslyaccumulating an oversupply of the items to be packed, means for removinga measured quantity of such items from the oversupply of the same, meansfor stacking said measured quantities of items in tiered case loads andmeans for discharging said case loads into cases for accommodating thesame, said means for stacking the measured quantities of items includingload receiving hoppers in spaced relation and means for shifting saidhoppers to alternately register them with said means for removing themeasured quantities and with said means for discharging the tiered loadsinto the cases.

References (Iited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

